Children First 2006 - Cooking with your child

Cooking with your child

Written by Pre-school Learning Alliance

Cooking with your child is not only good for your relationship – you can also help them to form good eating habits. The Pre-school Learning Alliance and Annabel Karmel have joined forces to help give young children healthy food they will love to eat. Feeding Young Imaginations, the Alliance’s nutrition campaign, supports parents and early years settings in providing a balanced diet for under-fives. Annabel is well known for her imaginative approach to creating nutritious meals for babies and children. She is the expert in getting your child to eat healthy food, no matter how fussy they are! You can make these fun and simple recipes together – just follow the instructions below.

Chinese Chicken

This is one of my favourite fillings for a wrap – it’s a sort of cheat’s version of Chinese duck in pancakes. You can buy plum sauce in most supermarkets. This tasty recipe would work really well for lunchboxes.

Makes one portion

1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of plum sauce
40g (11⁄2 oz) cooked chicken, shredded
25g (1oz) peeled cucumber, cut into matchsticks
A small handful of shredded iceberg lettuce
1 teaspoon of toasted sesame seeds (optional)
1 flour tortilla

Mix together the mayonnaise, soy sauce and plum sauce. Stir in the shredded chicken and cucumber. Sprinkle over the toasted sesame seeds (if using). Heat the tortilla for 20 seconds in a microwave or for about 15 seconds each side in a dry frying pan. Arrange the filling near one end of the tortilla and roll up.

You can also make other great healthy and tasty wraps such as prawn and lettuce, and Mexican egg.

Taken from Lunchboxes by Annabel Karmel (Ebury Press, £6.99)

Photo © DK

Baked Potato Mice

Baked potatoes make a healthy alternative to chips. You can simply mash the potato together with some butter, milk and seasoning and then sprinkle the grated cheese on top or try the delicious combination below.

Makes four potato mice

4 small baking potatoes (approx. 275g [10oz] each)
1 tablespoon of olive oil for brushing the potatoes
Half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard
25g (1oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1⁄2 butternut squash (250g or 8oz peeled weight), cut into cubes
25g (1oz) butter
40g (11⁄2 oz) Cheddar cheese, grated

For decoration: two baby plum tomatoes, chives, two radishes, eight raisins, four spring onions, cocktail sticks.

1. Wash the potatoes, dry and prick the skins, place on a baking tray and brush all over with the oil.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C (400°F) for about one hour or until the potatoes feel soft when pressed. Meanwhile, steam the butternut squash for ten minutes or until soft.
2. When cool enough to handle, cut the tops off the potatoes, carefully scoop out the flesh and mash together with the cooked butternut squash, mustard, Parmesan cheese and butter until smooth, and season to taste.
3. Spoon the mixture back into the potato shells, sprinkle with the grated Cheddar cheese and cook under the grill until golden. For the nose, fix a halved baby plum tomato into each of the potatoes, using a cocktail stick. Add lengths of chives for whiskers. Decorate with halved radishes for the ears, raisins for the eyes and spring onion for the tails.

Taken from Feeding Your Baby and Toddler by Annabel Karmel (Dorling Kindersley, £14.99)

Spaghetti with Plum Tomatoes

A really good homemade tomato sauce is always popular and you can serve it with any type of pasta and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. You can add a couple of tablespoons of chopped sunblush (semi-dried) tomatoes to the fresh tomatoes if you want to bring out the flavour. The sauce can be frozen separately.

Makes 4 portions

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
1 clove of garlic, crushed
A handful of basil leaves, torn into pieces
4 ripe plum tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded and chopped
1 x 400g (14oz) tin of chopped tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g (7oz) spaghetti

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion for five minutes until softened but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for one minute.
2. Add remaining ingredients (except the spaghetti, which you boil separately, see below), cover with a lid and cook over a medium heat for about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to the timing instructions on the packet. Drain and serve topped with the sauce.

Taken from Favourite Family Recipes by Annabel Karmel (Ebury Press, £14.99)

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